Mace manages major museum job

Mace is overseeing a major £49m redevelopment of Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum of art and archaeology, Britain's oldest public museum. The £49m scheme is partially funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and comprises a major extension to the existing 1845 Grade 1 listed building. Rick Mather Architects, known for its work at Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Wallace Collection, has designed the extension for the building which will double the existing display space and include new temporary exhibition galleries, conservation studios, education spaces, offices and a rooftop cafe. The extension will allow the Ashmolean to display its extensive collection of Western and Eastern art, antiquities and coins in an exhibition setting designed by Metaphor.

Mace is currently managing the decanting and re-location of the museum's collections and its staff before the demolition phase can begin in August. Construction is due to start in December and completion is scheduled for early September 2008 before a 9 month exhibition installation and environmental testing period culminating in a grand opening in 2009.